📰 New article from TorrentFreak
Music Publishers Truncated Musk’s ‘DMCA Plague’ Tweet to Back Piracy Case, X Tells Court
Elon Musk’s famous tweet calling the DMCA a “plague on humanity” might sound like a declaration of war on copyright law, but X Corp is arguing it’s actually just political commentary. That’s the core of the tech giant’s latest move to dismiss a massive lawsuit from major music publishers like Universal and Sony.
The labels claim X actively encourages piracy, leaning heavily on that truncated tweet as proof of intent. X pushes back hard, pointing out that Musk was specifically criticizing overzealous enforcement and long copyright terms, not the law itself. In fact, Musk later clarified that legitimate takedown requests are perfectly fine. The company argues the publishers are deliberately misrepresenting his words to manufacture an “inducement” claim.
Why does this matter? It’s a high-stakes battle over how much control platforms must exert over user content. With the Supreme Court raising the bar for contributory infringement in the Cox case, the music industry is struggling to prove X did more than just host content. X contends that general platform features and slow response times don’t equal illegal encouragement.
If Judge Trauger buys X’s argument, this 18-month legal saga could end right here. The publishers have a chance to respond, but the writing might already be on the wall: context matters, even in federal court.